Jazz was not yet part of my regular musical repertoire. But Benson covered Grace Slick’s heroin hippie hymn as well as the Mamas and the Papas’ California Dreamin’ so it seemed familiar rather than foreign. I was mesmerized by Benson’s virtuosity and flights of fancy. I wanted to hear more from him and his sidemen; Ron Carter on bass, Billy Cobham on drums, Herbie Hancock on keyboards and Hubert Laws on flute.

The journey led to Miles Davis’s Second Great Quintet, which included Carter and Hancock, Tony Williams on drums and Wayne Shorter on saxophone. Shorter replaced the sax player from Davis’s First Great Quintet, John Coltrane who, in turn, had replaced Sonny Rollins.

There was no turning back. One jazz great led to another. Shorter led to Joe Zawinul and the jazz fusion group Weather Report, with Miroslav Vitous and then Jaco Pastorius on bass. The Miles Davis alumni list also included Chick Corea, who formed Return to Forever, with bass player Stanley Clarke, drummer Lenny White and guitarist Bill Connors, followed by Al di Meola; as well as guitarist John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. And wouldn’t you know Corea and McLaughlin played on the Joe Farrell Quartet album featuring McLaughlin’s dreamy composition Follow Your Heart with Jack DeJonette on drums and the incomparable Dave Holland on bass. The connections continued through pianists Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett and McCoy Tyner, guitarists Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, saxophonists Pharoah Sanders, Gato Barbieri and Ornette Coleman, the latter shaking up the hard-bop jazz scene at the dawn of the 1960s with the joyful chaos of his breakout album, The Shape of Jazz to Come.

As exciting as this voyage of discovery has been, the real thrill is hearing music as it’s being made and that’s what happens at the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival. After all, a recording marks a moment in time, while jazz is all about innovation, improvisation and imagination. The festival gives you a front-row seat to artistic creation.

No need to fear the label “jazz” festival. This is not an exclusive club. Jazz artists move easily from one musical genre to another. Weather Report drummer Omar Hakim, for example, had played with Carly Simon and David Bowie before joining the group and went on later to work with Sting. Joe Farrell played with Hall & Oates. Sonny Rollins played with the Rolling Stones. Wayne Shorter played with Steely Dan, Don Henley and Joni Mitchell and toured with Carlos Santana. Santana has played with McLaughlin, Shorter and Hancock, as well as Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and Kirk Hammett from Metallica. And speaking of Santana, his wife Cindy Blackman Santana, perhaps best known for her work with Lenny Kravitz, will be performing at the festival with Spectrum Road, a group that includes Jack Bruce from Cream.

And so it is with the festival itself. It spans every musical style. Many of the acts defy conventional categorization. Consider the blurb in the festival program on the Avett Brothers’ latest album: “a propulsive, foot-stomping, ‘punk-grass’ folk masterpiece that filters CSNY countrified boogie through the brothers’ early neo-punk roots.” (They’re at the Orpheum June 26).

There’s everything from Mongolian throat singing to R&B, rock n’ roll, soul, swing and world music, bringing together international artists and our local and national talent in a celebration of sound everyone can enjoy.

Not into free-form discordant jazz? Check out Janelle Monae, who channels Michael Jackson, Prince, Stevie Wonder and James Brown. Looking for a gentle introduction to jazz? See Eliane Elias, a Grammy-nominated singer and pianist, described as sultry and smouldering, whose quartet mixes it up with cool jazz, pop and bossa nova.

In order to see and hear as much as possible, I buy a hopper pass, which this year costs $150 until June 1, after which the price goes up to $175. The pass gives you admission to 60 concerts at six different venues, encouraging you to sample from the smorgasbord of music presented with abandon.

No money? No problem. There are 150 free concerts around town, enough to deliver a full festival experience without spending a dime. And we’re not talking amateur buskers. Some of B.C.’s top musicians will be on the main stage on Georgia Street on the June 23-24 weekend, including Phil Dwyer, appearing with Laila Biali, performing his Canadian songbook featuring fresh arrangements of the works of Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Ron Sexsmith and others. Latin-flavoured Locarno, salsa-soaked Mazacote, R&B band Serpentine Funk, and the acclaimed Barry Elmes Quintet are other must-sees on the freebie lineup.

Listening to my old albums is a pleasure but participating in a festival is an adventure. There’s anticipation that you’ll hear something unique, discover a rare talent, expand your musical tastes and even find a new community — because a festival becomes a community, and the jazz community is among the most welcoming.

So do not fear jazz. As Duke Ellington reassured us, “It’s all music.”

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